Russia Nominates Germany’s Ex-Chancellor Schroeder For Rosneft Board

Russia’s government has nominated Germany’s former chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, to join the board of the Russian state-owned energy giant Rosneft.

The nomination is one of seven presented in a decree signed by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and published on the Russian government’s website late on August 11.

Schroeder, who has called Russian President Vladimir Putin a close friend, was nominated as a non-executive director of Rosneft.

His candidacy was put forward as Rosneft plans to increase the number of board directors from nine to 11, according to the government website.

Schroeder currently serves as chairman of the shareholders’ committee of Nord Stream AG, a Gazprom-led consortium established for the construction of a pipeline meant to carry Russian natural gas across the Baltic Sea and into Germany.

Rosneft has been targeted by Western sanctions over Russia’s seizure and illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and its support for pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Schroeder, a Social Democrat who was German chancellor from 1998 to 2005, celebrated his 70th birthday with Putin at St. Petersburg’s Jussupov Palace in April 2014 as the crisis over Ukraine was deepening.